AS apprehension mounts over meeting previous agreements on climate change, the African Group of Negotiators has vowed not to bury the Kyoto Protocol. Their stance was stated as the 17th Conference Of Parties (COP17) negotiations on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gathered momentum in Durban, South Africa yesterday.

And as the event entered the third day, the colours of Nigeria have not been seen at the exhibition grounds of the International Conference Centre (ICC). The Guardian gathered that the Nigerian delegation has been unable to fly down to Durban due to “some hitches.”

Also at the Africa Pavilion, there is no Nigerian stand. It was also gathered that thus far, only the Nigerian representative in charge of the Reducing Emission through De-forestation and Degradation (REDD) programme has arrived in Durban.

The exhibition stands at COP17 present countries with an opportunity to show what they are doing about the problem of climate change, while branding and marketing their countries to investors who may be interested in bringing green, and other environmentally-friendly businesses to their shore.

When The Guardian visited the exhibition stands, both at the Africa pavilion and elsewhere, representatives of different countries could be seen speaking glowingly about programmes their countries were implementing to tackle climate change. They include African countries such as Namibia, Ethiopia, Angola, Tanzania, among others. There were also bodies like the World Bank, the European Union (EU), World Health Organisation (WHO) and some other UN agencies.

According to a statement by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), one of the chairs of the Group and lead negotiator of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr. Victor Kabengele wa Koudilu, said at the opening session of the Ad-hoc Working Group on the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) that “Africa will not become the graveyard of the Kyoto Protocol.”

Also, the African Group of Negotiators has made a strong argument for the need to have agreed benchmarks on climate finance, to foster transparency and accountability in the way the money is provided and used, according to a new report released on the sidelines of the COP17.

The report presents up-to-date figures on the current provision of climate finance for Africa and reveals the abysmally low levels of delivering on global climate change finance promises, according to the Information and Communication Service of ECA.

Researched and written for the African Group of Negotiators by the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the UNECA, the report also shows that current finance available for Africa and other developing countries under the fast-start finance is not commensurate to the scale required to implement the activities agreed to in the UN climate convention.....Read more...